News
Students protest against government apathy: want teachers in schools
May 14 and 15 saw a mass protest by close to 500 students in Khaned who were joined by students from Mang and half a dozen villages. They were demanding teachers in schools and construction of roads to take them to schools. The education department call the protest politically motivated.
Ranjit Singh and Marfa Kousar both hail from Lodhra village, both study in Class XII Science stream, both trek nearly 6 km through hilly terrain to reach the Government Higher Secondary School in Udhampur. Their daily route passes through a treacherous area prone to falling stones and a fast-flowing Ujh river which can be crossed by walking precariously on a wooden log put across by villagers.
They reach school after the arduous 2 hour trek to the fact that the only class that will be held is for English language, taught by Principal V K Koul. The school is probably one of the only ones in India that doesn’t have a teacher for any of the science subjects or for math. It doesn’t have a laboratory or a library either. This compelled the previous batch of Class XII science students to walk nearly 15 km each side to the Government Higher Secondary School, Basantgarh, all of September in order to clock in some practical lessons before their annual exams in November. It doesn’t come as a surprise that only 1of the 102 Class XII students from the school who took the exams in 2015 managed to pass, while the pass percentage in Class X was 67 %.
Having had enough, the students of Khaned Government Higher Secondary School along with close to 500 students from schools in Panara and nearby half a dozen villages, along with their parents, held a dharna at the tehsil headquarters in Basantgarh on May 14 and 15.
The May 14 march began from Khaned and as the protest march passed villages, other students facing similar problems joined them. Although used to official apathy, they were stunned by the reaction of the Education Department to the protest. Officials termed the protest “politically motivated” and illegal, saying that the students and parents resorted to the protest through the support of politicians, Public Health Engineering workers out to settle scores with superiors over water supply to the school, panchayat members, and even teachers “facilitating” mass copying.
The SDM, Basantgarh claims that the Khaned students were actually unhappy over the administration’s crackdown on unfair means in exams and the subsequent mass failure of last year’s Class XII batch. He says the protestors were also provoked by the fine imposed upon Principal Koul and 3 teachers for remaining absent.
Although the Khaned school has a sanctioned staff strength of 41, including the principal, the school only had 3 lecturers, teaching Economics, Commerce and English, and only 1master-grade teacher and 3 general line teachers. However, the protest pressured the government into action and the Udhampur Deputy Commissioner issued final notices to 3 lecturers who had failed to join their new postings at the Khaned school. The Basantgarh SDM attributes the shortage of teachers to absence of roads. It takes 5 hours even by a bus to cover the 65 km from Ramnagar to Basantgarh.
Chief Education Officer, Udhampur, Bishan Singh Jaral admits they are facing a shortage of teachers, especially of science, everywhere. A senior official blames the government’s expansion in the education sector without improving infrastructure. In 2010-11, he says, the government upgraded 2 high schools and 6 middle schools in Udhampur without providing more teachers.